OceanaGold (TSX: OGC) has agreed to acquire Ausgold (ASX: AUC) in a transaction valuing the gold developer at about A$776 million (US$549 million), adding an advanced open-pit project to a producer that already operates four mines across three countries.
Under the scheme of arrangement announced Monday, Ausgold shareholders will receive 0.03365 OceanaGold shares for each share held, at an implied value of A$1.36 per share. That represents a 28% premium to Ausgold’s last close of A$1.065 and a 44% premium to its 20 day volume-weighted average price.
Shareholders can elect cash instead, drawing on a pool capped at A$194 million, with elections scaled back if demand exceeds the limit. Once complete, Ausgold holders will own between 6% and 8% of the enlarged company.
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The asset driving the deal is the Katanning Gold Project in Western Australia.
Katanning hosts a mineral resource of 2.44 million ounces and reserves of 1.25 million ounces, underpinning a planned conventional open-pit operation feeding a 3.6 million tonne per year carbon-in-leach plant. An updated definitive feasibility study released in December 2025 pegged pre-production capital at A$355 million, with output averaging above 100,000 ounces annually over a mine life exceeding a decade. First gold is targeted for 2029.
Much of the heavy permitting work is already done. Mining leases cover the entire planned development footprint, and the state environmental regulator has authorised the project’s environmental review document. Ausgold’s land position also stretches beyond the current mine plan, spanning more than 3,000 square kilometres of a greenstone belt that remains lightly drilled.
“The acquisition of Ausgold adds an advanced, high-quality, low-capital, open-pit development asset,” said Gerard Bond, OceanaGold’s president and chief executive officer, describing Katanning as “a natural fit with our proven development and operating capabilities.”
Ausgold’s board has unanimously recommended the transaction, subject to no superior proposal emerging and an independent expert concluding the deal is in shareholders’ best interests. Dundee Corp., which holds about 7.7% of the company, has committed to voting in favour.
Completion requires 75% approval at a scheme meeting expected in late November, along with court sanction, Foreign Investment Review Board and competition clearances, and Toronto Stock Exchange approval for the share issuance. A scheme booklet is due in late October, with closing anticipated in December.
OceanaGold last traded at $39.74 on the TSX.
